Commercial use of two-wheelers: Transport dept set to frame norms

The meeting chaired by Mohan saw participation from different stakeholders including aggregators/corporate houses/agencies such as Ola, Uber, Rapido, In Drive, Durgapur Cab Service, LYFT India, Amazon, Flipkart, Blinkit, Zomato, Swiggy et al in the presence of the officials of the transport department, directorate of transport and state transport authority,West Bengal, for discussing the irregular and unregulated operations of non-transport 2-wheelers for commercial purposes in the state.

A senior official of the transport department said, “Notwithstanding there being specified procedures (both in online & offline mode) in the State for conversion of non transport 2-wheelers into transport category, there has recently been a practice of irregular operations and use of non-transport two-wheelers as transport vehicles for using the same in furtherance of commercial activities, thereby resulting in huge losses of government revenue.”

He said, “With the online platforms and e-commerce activities multiplying exponentially, more and more such non-transport two wheelers are being used for commercial purposes. While the introduction of new commercial and business activities is a welcome phenomeen, the unauthorised and illegal use of non-transport two-wheelers as transport vehicles for using them for commercial purposes can’t be allowed any longer.”

Mohan invited views of the participants and representatives from different organisations for checking and stopping the present practice.